Helen Skelton says she felt "stupid" after she lost all her £70,000 savings in a banking scam. The TV presenter was a guest on Lorraine on ITV when she explained what happened back in 2019.
Talking about her son, the former Blue Peter presenter said she was scared about her son going online to talk to his mates, saying she doesn't know much about that world. She said she has heard about plenty of things that can go wrong, BirminghamLive reports.
The 39-year-old said: "I mean, come on – even as adults it is so easy to fall victim to a fraudster... I’ve done it – it has happened to me. It makes you feel really stupid. But it has happened to so many people who aren’t stupid.
The Countryside presenter told Lorraine: "I got phoned up by the bank, told something dodgy had gone on with my account. The next week I had £70,000, all of my savings, had gone. All gone."
Helen said the money disappeared after she was asked just a few questions over the phone about her account. The fraudster had called when she was distracted.
She said: "I had one kid up a tree, one wrestling the dog, another dog throwing up their kids birthday cake, then they phoned me from the bank and said 'oh something has gone on'. You don't question your bank."
This week, the Co-operative Bank contacted customers about a digital wallet scam, targeting users of Apple Pay and Google Pay. It says it is seeing fraudsters impersonating bank and service providers to request information they need to be able to use debit or credit cards, to commit fraud on people's accounts.
When targeting Apple Pay users:
The user receives a text message to advise they need to re-register their card in order to use Apple Pay
The text message contains a link which the user can click on, redirecting them to a page where they will be asked for their full name, address, date of birth, and contact details
Users are then asked to provide their sort code, account number, 16-digit card number, card expiry date, and the 3 security digits on the back of their card.
When targeting Google Pay and other digital wallet users
Users receive a call from someone claiming to be from their bank
The fraudster will discuss false unusual activity on the your account, and advise you need to add your card to a new security system called ‘Wallet Pay’
The fraudsters tell users they’ll receive a text message shortly, and they’ll need that code to register for the ‘Wallet Pay’ service.
If you are contacted either by text message or by phone call with any of the activity listed above— do not engage, this is a scam.
If you suspect you’ve received any form of suspicious contact, or may have been victim to a scam, please report it.
Need to report a scam? Call 159.
Now, when you call 159, you'll be redirected to a service that connects you to your bank so you can report scams or suspected fraudulent activity.
